A white Jesus during Black History Month? I find it more than a little ironic that during February, Black History Month, we are being bombarded with images of a white Jesus in the trailers for Mel Gibson’s film.

Jesus, the Annointed One (Kristos), was a Jew, a member of the Semitic peoples. The historical record is very clear, unequivocal actually, that 2,000 years ago the Semites were a brown, dark brown or black people with tightly curled to woolly hair. The one phenotype that Jesus the Annointed One (Kristos), or any of the disciples for that matter, would not have been was a Caucasian, a white man.

How are we ever going to come to grips with racism in this country if we continue to deny people of color their historical place? How could white people hate people of color if they were taught Jesus would pass for black if he were to rejoin us today?

Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, Mohammed, the founders of the major religious movements, all were people of color.

Isn’t it time we set aside our prejudices and recognize this and start taking the first steps in eliminating racial hatred and bigotry in our society?

THOMAS C. MOUNTAIN is coordinator of the Hawai’i Black History Committee.